Funerals begin for victims of Sandy Hook shooting

Veronique Pozner, front, the mother of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victim Noah Pozner, arrives for his burial at the B'nai Israel Cemetery in Monroe, Conn., on Monday, Dec. 17. Two funerals on Monday ushered in what will be a week of memorial services and burials for the 20 children and six adults killed at the school in Newtown, Conn.

Lucas Jackson / Reuters

A couple walks away away from the burial service for 6-year-old Jack Pinto at the Newtown Village Cemetery in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 17. Pinto was one of 20 schoolchildren killed in the Dec. 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

By Tracy Connor, Miranda Leitsinger and Ian Johnston, NBC News

With tears and hugs, a grief-rocked Connecticut town said farewell Monday to the first of its slain children: two 6-year-olds being buried in unbearably small coffins on a cold, gray day.

The funerals of first-graders Noah Pozner and Jack Pinto will be followed by two dozen more services over coming days as the other children and staffers murdered at Newtown's Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday are laid to rest.

A misty rain was in the air as mourners -- many in black, others in school gear emblazoned with a capital “N” -- gathered outside the Honan Funeral Home on Main St. for Jack’s funeral. Continue reading.

Lucas Jackson / Reuters

A hearse carrying the casket of 6-year-old Jack Pinto is driven to the Newtown Village Cemetery during his funeral service in Newtown, Conn., on Dec. 17.

Jason Decrow / AP

Mourners hug before the funeral service for 6-year-old Noah Pozner, on Dec. 17 in Fairfield, Conn.

David Goldman / AP

Mourners gather outside the funeral service for Jack Pinto, 6, on Dec. 17 in Newtown, Conn.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Mourners arrive for the funeral service for Noah Pozner, 6, on Dec. 17 in Fairfield, Conn.

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A man comforts a boy outside Honan Funeral Home before the funeral for 6-year-old Jack Pinto on Dec. 17 in Newtown, Conn.

David Friedman / NBC News

Kanga Kanh, left, and Channary Pich prepare to place 26 balloons at a makeshift memorial at the entrance to Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 17 in Newtown, Conn.

David Goldman / AP

David Freedman, right, kneels with his son Zachary, 9, both of Newtown, Conn., as they visit a sidewalk memorial for the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims on Dec. 16.